Earlier this month, the Trump administration cancelled funding for at least six biking and walking trails across the country, including a $5.7 million grant slated for Connecticut’s Naugatuck River Greenway Trail, or the NRG Trail. In a letter dated Sept. 9, Maria Lefevre, executive director for the office of the under secretary of transportation, said the administration is prioritizing “projects that promote vehicular travel.” The U.S. Transportation Department rereviewed the grant individually, the letter stated, and withdrew funding because the project “no longer aligns with DOT priorities.” The grant was funded through former President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the NRG Trail was selected for funding in June 2024. The NRG Trail would connect 11 towns in the Naugatuck River Valley. The planned route snakes along the river for 44 miles, bridging towns from Litchfield to Waterbury to Derby. The trail has been in the works for almost three decades, and the pulled federal grant would have helped close the remaining gaps. It would have funded segments of the trail totaling roughly 16.5 miles. Progress on those parts of the trail — in Thomaston, Watertown, Waterbury and Naugatuck — will halt until NVCOG can secure alternate funding.
US DOT promotion of ‘vehicular travel’ hits popular CT greenway trail hard. What it lost.
